


On Love: Storge

by Muspell



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Family, Fluff, M/M, OtaYuri Week, OtaYuri Week 2017, it's all there is, like serious fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-23
Updated: 2017-02-23
Packaged: 2018-09-25 17:35:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9834995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Muspell/pseuds/Muspell
Summary: Nishigori Yuuko receives the Ice Tiger of Russia one more time at her house. What she didn't know is that he'll be bringing company.And all the revelations that come afterwards.





	

 

Yuuko puts the last pair of skates up on their respective place on the shelf and sighs deeply: it’s been a long day.  Ever since Yuuri won silver at the Grand Prix and finally moved in with his now fiance, days at the Ice Castle have been exhaustingly busy .

Which is great, of course, but  even the girls are exhausted; they're helping out as best they can, trying to help others their age stay upright on the ice. In some ways that's not so bad, since they don't struggle so much at bedtime. She’s glad they’re being helpful.

They are, of course, until they casually loom over her shoulder while she is texting a really close friend (she'd called him that, even if he doesn’t reciprocate). A really close friend the girls  _ adore _ . 

Right now the ice rink is a whirlwind of people going in and out and renting skates and asking for turns and… and the girls constantly asking “ _ when is uncle Yuri coming”.  _

Soon enough, she knows, according to his last Instagram photo at an airport, tagged Hasetsu. She’s so glad he’s finally visiting again. 

She’s not so happy that he’s posted it for the world to see. She can feel the migraine building up again.

* * *

 

She gets the text early in the morning, having already set Yuri’s ringtone as the loudest tune her phone has, and sends Takeshi away to meet them at the airport. It’s gonna be a long day; every day is now, but it will be especially difficult without him around to help out. She figures having people over is enough of an excuse to keep the rink closed for the morning, and wakes the girls up to get some lunch ready. Yuri is a growing boy after all, and growing boys need a lot of sustenance. 

Yuuko can almost manage as the girls help out, tidying up a bit while she cooks and Axel takes pictures to send through Snapchat (this time with permission from her mother). 

Yuri answers with a picture of Takeshi driving and grinning widely. That’s the good thing about her husband, she thinks: he doesn’t really need a lot of encouragement to start talking and laughing at his own jokes, and people always catch up eventually. 

She thinks she sees something besides Yuri, like… A shoulder, maybe? But the lighting doesn’t help. Or the mere ten seconds she gets to look at the picture before it gets deleted. 

It couldn’t be a shoulder; Yuri never mentioned he was bringing anyone. She has only one spare room and, frankly, three really intense eight-year-olds around. He wouldn’t just drop in with someone unannounced. 

He wouldn’t  _ bring _ someone in the first place: he’s always complaining about the girls intruding in every conversation they have, although she knows he loves them dearly. In his own way. 

Right?

* * *

 

She hears the door open just as they’re setting up the table and warns the girls to put the plates down before running off to greet their guest. They do listen, in a way: they drop plates and cutlery onto the floor and rush to the door. 

Little earthquakes, that’s what they are. But kind, loving ones, after all.

Yuuko goes to pick up the mess the girls have made, but stops when she hears the little voices chattering loudly:

“Uncle Yuri!”

“We missed you!”

“Didn’t you bring your cat? She’s so cute!”

“Will you teach us how to do the jumps?”

“Can I upload your picture on Instagram?” Christ, these kids never stop. And Takeshi just  _ laughs _ .  That never helps.  

She starts walking to the door until she hears the collective gasps of her children and steps up the pace. 

She covers her mouth in surprise. 

He DID bring someone. That someone he’s been telling her all about for the past few weeks. 

The someone who is now  _ bowing  _ at the astonished kids, then lifting his gaze only enough to stay at their eye level.

“Good morning, ladies.”  

The kids screech.

Yuuko thinks she does, too. 

The Hero of Kazakhstan is standing at her door. 

* * *

After the customary introductions, Yuuko takes the girls with her to finish readying lunch while her husband takes the boys to their room. Their one room that they’ll have to share because  _ someone _ might have forgotten to let her know he wasn’t coming alone. 

She can hear Takeshi laughing all the way across the hallway. She can’t hide the smile forming on her face at the sound. The man can always make her smile, even without being in the same room.

They finally return to sit by the table as she serves the plates and asks the kids to PLEASE stay and have lunch on the table, since they usually hurry their food or just take their plate right next to the laptop to watch some particularly interesting skate program on loop. This day doesn’t seem to be any different, as the girl sit on the edges of their chairs,as if they are about to race each other to the couch. 

Yuuko notices Otabek’s eyes on her, as he speaks up. “Pardon me for asking, but I found this,” He takes a moment to check on the girls, practically crawling on the table, eager to know what he’s about to say, “this astonishing free skate program from some years back. It was danced by this, correct me if I’m wrong, Ice Castle Madonna?”  

She is about to thank him for the compliment when the kids chime in, detailing her every move and expression, how her body glided across the ice like she was born there, how fragile and young she looked, like she was floating to the music. Yuuko feels her face turn red but just smiles and let them discuss it: at least this way the girls will behave for a while longer. She knows they remember countless programs from a lot of renowned skaters, but that one, the last free skate program she ever did, right before she found out she was pregnant, that one is their favorite. 

And Yuri loves it too; he said so one night during skype when for some reason he asked how her skating was when she was his age and started watching each and every performance. 

He said it felt somehow like a happy goodbye, like leaving her childhood behind and opening up to something new. She teared up a bit that day and hoped that the grainy quality of the video would hide it. 

* * *

The guests, of course, don’t lose any time to head down to the ice rink, and Yuuko is happy to open it for them. She hasn’t seen the amazing performances professional skaters can do live since the months Yuuri was still training in Hasetsu with Viktor. 

And she isn’t the only one there to watch them: every person who gets in the minute she opens the doors stays carefully on the sides, staring at the two professionals lacing up their skates (their own skates, of course: they’ve come prepared) and getting into the rink side by side. 

They start warming up by doing lazy laps and circling around the rink, but their practice evolves into racing one another, and then into practicing their jumps together. There isn’t a plan; they yell a few words at each other and play around on the ice. She knows some random Russian words from Viktor: mostly about love, but she recognizes the word “jump” as they try and synchronize their triple axels. 

Yuuko hasn’t seen Yuri laugh so much in a while. Maybe never. Their joy resonates through the hollow walls of the Ice Castle, and the spectators don’t dare say a word to interrupt the moment, the special atmosphere they’re creating

But others do.

“Your landing was sloppy, Altin!”

“Yuri, you started way too early!”

“You’re too close; you’re gonna crash!”

Damn it, these girls. They’re sweet and endearing and all, but they’re really some piece of work. She goes to the edge of the rink where they’ve climbed up on the side walls to scold them, but Otabek gets there first with a smirk on his lips. He’s not one to make jokes around people, according to Yuri; he’s a very private person.If she didn’t know any better, she would swear that was mischief in his eyes. 

“Which one of you is Axel?” The little girl with purple pigtails raises her hands high with excitement. “Do you know what an axel feels like? When you’re suspended in the air?” She pulls her hands down slowly, only for a strong arm to go around her waist, pulling her against Otabek. She holds onto his chest with arms and legs as he keeps her steady, one arm under her legs and the other across her back. “Do you want to know?” 

The girl shyly nods against his chest, and he moves to the center of the rink. Yuuko can feel her heart pounding in her ears: if Axel falls, if the blades touch her, if, if. Suddenly Otabek starts gaining speed and lifts off, high and neatly, wobbling a bit on the landing because of the added weight. 

Yuri gasps loudly, mouth agape and eyes wide, from where he’s watching, leaning on the side of the rink. Yuuko is positive she stopped breathing for a second. 

Otabek skates back and gets welcomed by the other two kids stretching their arms up to him, begging him to take them too. He looks at Yuri, who shakes his head and stays put. Otabek takes the girls, one by one, to dance with him. It starts as complicated jumps, but at some point he just starts to glide around the ice, practicing figures with a girl attached to his chest like a koala. 

Yuuko tries to comment on the triplets’ behaviour and how much fun they’re having, but Yuri’s not listening. She can hear something being muttered between his teeth, so she leans closer to him. 

She doesn't speak much Russian; only random words, learnt from Viktor. Mostly about love. 

She swears he said the word “marriage.” So, of course, she asks.

Yuri turns bright red in a second and turns to snap at her. He opens his mouth but words don’t come out. Yuuko knows about them, she’s talked to Yuri when he’s needed a helping hand, a mother to ask. She wouldn’t dare to take that place in his life herself, of course; it was more of a slip Yuri had during a Skype conversation, too sleepy to notice. He would call her or text her to talk about the thing Otabek was doing in training, or tell her they were about to meet, or ask where they should go when they finally did see each other… 

And a boy who talks so much and so effusively, and quite frankly, so dearly about someone might just have a slip or two. And one of them might have included the word “marriage”. 

She asks again. “May I know what you just said?”. 

He sighs. He stares at the boy still playing on the ice with Loop held against him, preparing himself for a salchow. 

He smiles.

“One day I’m gonna marry that guy.” 

Yuuko beams by his side. “You’ll be so happy together.”

* * *

The guests stay for only a week, but change the family schedule completely. Takeshi teaches Yuri how to fix the ice; Otabek takes care of the girls, who for some reason are much more disciplined when he’s around. (Yuuko knows it’s because of his gentlemanly ways around them, and will keep on using their little infatuation with Otabek to make them behave.) People stop crowding the rink, giving them some space to skate after a few yells from Yuri. 

Yuuko herself has to change her habits, from going to bed early to staying up with a cup of tea, listening to a particular Russian teenager excitedly talking about how he finally asked his friend on a date and he said yes and they went to Hasetsu Castle and it was awesome and….

And she can’t help but smile, even exhausted as she is, that he’s let her into his world like this. She’s happy for him, for having the chance to see him smile so much, grow so much. 

She met him when he was only a teenage boy, alone, away from home; he went back home lonely and empty handed despite all his effort. Yuri seems completely different now to her eyes: open, joyful, surrounded by love. 

She couldn’t be happier.

 


End file.
